Minor Professional Hockey Leagues

exploring the past hockey leagues of north america

Minor professional hockey leagues are the backbone of
the NHL. These leagues over the years have served as
training grounds for the NHL teams. Entertaining hockey
in their own right and offering non NHL players a chance
to earn a living.

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Minor Professional Hockey Leagues

The first leagues to start openly paying players began in the United
States in 1902-03 and over the next few years play-for-pay
leagues wouldstart up across most of Canada and the
northern United States. As these professional leagues
matured there was a need for a developmental system,
or a minor pro system.

When Frank and Lester Patrick folded the Pacific Hockey League/WHL after
the
1925-26 campaign, the newly expanded NHL couldn't handle all the pro players
available. The
result was the formation of the very first minor pro leagues in 1926-27, when
four new leagues were started. Two of these, the Canadian-American (Can-Am)
league,
and the Canadian Professional (Can-Pro)
loop combined to form one league, the
International-American
Hockey League, in 1936-37. This league was the forerunner
of today's American Hockey League. In 1926-27, the USAHA also declared itself
as professional and was renamed
the American Hockey Association,
operating
without affiliation to the NHL.

The fourth minor pro league to debut after the 1925-26 collapse of major-league
hockey in the west was the Prairie Hockey
League.

The American Hockey League was formed in 1940 although
it is sometimes noted to have started
in 1936. At that time
it was
known
as
the International
American
Hockey League (1936-1940) which was formed from teams
in the International
Hockey League and the Canadian
American Hockey League. As it has been for most of its existence,
the American Hockey League is still the top development
league for the National Hockey League. Each franchise
is required to be affiliated with an NHL team.

With WWII going on the The PCHL folded in 1941,
followed
by the
AHA in 1942. By 1943-44 there was only 12 pro teams in the NHL and AHL
combined as most of the best pro players were
scattered throughout senior or military
leagues all across North America. As the war drew to an end in 1946-47
the new United
States Hockey League was formed. The Pacific
Coast Hockey League reformed as a senior
league in 1945-46, again turning minor pro in 1948-49.
The International
Hockey League was formed on December
5, 1945, and operated until the end of the
2001 season.

Although the American Hockey League (AHL) and the
now defunct International Hockey League (IHL) represented
the elite leagues of minor professional hockey in
North America other leagues such as the East
Coast Hockey League also developed.. The ECHL grew
out of the old Atlantic
Coast Hockey League (1981) and was set up in
1988 to provide a place for players who were not
drafted
by NHL teams
to develop their skills. Other leagues such as the
Sunshine
Hockey League and the Southern
Hockey League had short lived lives in the annuals
of minor leagues.

The United Hockey League, which was founded as the
Colonial Hockey League in
1991. The original name was chosen to reflect what was planned
as a New England-based circuit, but the league actually ended up placing
teams in Canada also. This
led to a name change, to the United Hockey League in 1997-98.

Expansion of leagues into the west in the
1990's resulted in the formation of The Western Professional
Hockey League, founded in
1996 with
six teams,
merging
in May
2001
with
the CHL. The West Coast Hockey League formed in 1995
is no longer operational with the 2003-04 teams now
merged
under the ECHL.